I am a development economist based at the University of Oxford, where I hold a joint position between the Department of International Development and the Centre for Islamic Studies (equivalent to tenure-track Assistant Professor). I am also affiliated with the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE). I completed my PhD from the Department of Economics, University of Oxford, followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship until 2020. I have also previously completed postgraduate degrees in finance (MSc, LSE), economics (PGDip, Cambridge), and development economics (MSc, Oxford).
Prior to academia, I worked for five years as a trader in the financial markets, for Bank of America in London and Deutsche Bank in Singapore, where I traded European and Asian government bonds, foreign exchange derivatives and other fixed-income products.
In my research, I am interested in the effect of equity-like financial contracts — involving, for example, shared ownership of fixed assets, sharing of revenue streams, or profit sharing — on the investment and growth of small firms. I have conducted fieldwork in Pakistan, Kenya, Bangladesh and Indonesia.
Publications
COVID-19 and the Future of Microfinance: Evidence and Insights from Pakistan (with Kashif Malik, Jonathan Morduch, Timothy Ogden, Simon Quinn and Farah Said) (2020). Oxford Review of Economic Policy, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/graa014 [Coverage: Economics Observatory; MIT Technology Review; Dawn; The News International; World Bank; Development Impact]
Other
Mutuality and The Potential of Microequity (with Kate Roll and Simon Quinn) Forthcoming book chapter in ‘Putting Purpose into Practice: The Economics of Mutuality’, Oxford University Press.
Ongoing work
Levelling the Debt-Equity Playing Field: Evidence from a Belgian Policy Change. Revise and Resubmit, European Economic Review
Asset-based Microfinance for Microenterprises: Evidence from Pakistan (with Faisal Bari, Kashif Malik, and Simon Quinn) [appendix] — January 2021
Microequity and Mutuality: Credit with Performance-Contingent Repayment for Gig Workers (with Francesco Cordaro, Marcel Fafchamps, Colin Mayer, Simon Quinn, and Kate Roll)
Microequity for Microenterprises: Evidence from Artefactual Field Experiments and a Survey
Financing Virtual Migration: Online Freelancing and Income Sharing in Rural Bangladesh (with Mehrab Bakhtiar, Simon Quinn, and Abu Shonchoy)